Hey everybody, This is a piece that is kind of for fun, but may make it into my portfolio. Whichever it is, I'm developing my skill considerably doing it. This is only really my second attempt at game art (my first being my low poly garden environment (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=323174)), so constructive crits are welcome.

Here's the concept. He originally had a name, but after googling it, i found that it sounded too much like the name of a former US President's father. So, suggestions for names are also welcome.

looks like you are off to a solid start, looking true to the concept :D the main thing bugging me is how chunky the feet lok, maybe tweak those a bit more, nice work.

RuinedMessiah

10-19-2006, 03:40 PM

KEITH! He needs to be a Keith. because it doesn't sound scary at all.

TychoCelchuuu

10-19-2006, 04:03 PM

It looks like he doesn't have enough geometry for his arm to deform correctly at the elbow.

westmeadow

10-19-2006, 06:03 PM

ts_falcon: Cheers for the comments... having spun around the character in the viewport, the feet feel right to me. maybe in the renders they look a little bulky, they work for me for now.

RuinedMessiah: Yes, Keith does sound like a useless pirate. Originally i was going to go for an idea given to me by a pirate name generator i found on the net. It recommended 'Smilin' Bill Blythe.' Not to be confused with William Jefferson Blythe. So that's out of the window. Thanks for the reccomendation!

TychoCelchuuu: Yeah, i just looked at that now, threw in a quick bone setup and you're right, i'll rectify this.

Cheers everybody... any other comments?

westmeadow

10-19-2006, 06:20 PM

ok, not so much a hurdle, but a little advice needed.

Coming round to mapping him, there are certain areas i want to share the same UVW space. For example, i could get away with the arms being mirrored, but i want an asymetrical appearance to the face. Would i need to:

seperate the areas (the 'to be mirrored' and the areas to be mapped normally)
delete half of the areas to be mirrored
unwrap and map
use the symmetry modifier (in 3dsmax) on the symetrical parts and reattach
Is this how you'd approach it?

Thanks for any help guys

blacker

10-19-2006, 06:58 PM

ok, not so much a hurdle, but a little advice needed.

Coming round to mapping him, there are certain areas i want to share the same UVW space. For example, i could get away with the arms being mirrored, but i want an asymetrical appearance to the face. Would i need to:

seperate the areas (the 'to be mirrored' and the areas to be mapped normally)
delete half of the areas to be mirrored
unwrap and map
use the symmetry modifier (in 3dsmax) on the symetrical parts and reattach
Is this how you'd approach it?

Thanks for any help guys

Well, I'm a MAYA user, but that sounds correct to me. Sometimes I delete half of the geometry even on the stuff that won't be mirrored. This way when I map one half (and do any tweaks) and duplicate it (mirrored) I can just flip the UV's for the mirrored part and weld it to the first set. That way they're both identical and easier to paint without any sort of distortion between the two. Max might work a little differently though.

How bout Ted for a name? Or Jeff.. just something that sounds perfectly ordinary. :) Maybe make the first name a regular everyday name and have a well-known last name (or nickname)? Ted Blackbeard.. Jeff Barbossa.. etc. ;)

Stinkfoot

10-20-2006, 06:33 AM

how about "Hephram" or.. "dwayne" :)

benclark

10-20-2006, 08:22 AM

hehe Keith is a great name for a useless pirate

What about Trevor the pirate? He looks like a Trevor to me

As for the model... the gritted teeth and the mad eyes are the best things about your concept sketch but neither of those has translated onto your model.

I would maybe throw some planes in for teeth and tweak the eyes to tie it in better with the concept

Very cool though:bounce:

westmeadow

10-24-2006, 10:53 PM

The name's still up in the air. i like Keith, but i can't say it without putting on a silly voice now it's been mentioned. I appologise to any Keith cgtalkers.

ok, done a little work on the UVW layout. my first attempt on a character, any thoughts on how i can improve it?

Can anybody shed any light on how i'm going to go about this mirroring please? i have all the seperate parts UVW'd, but the different elements to be mirrored are still connected to the body.

stack simply >

UVW Unwrap
Edit Poly

It appears i properly need spoon feeding :sad:

I attempted putting another edit poly on the top of the stack, deleting the half to be replaced with the mirror, selecting the original geometry.... then got stuck. Any clues to how to get that part mirrored over, with the vertices welded and incorporating the mirrored UV's?

Thanks everybody

BigErn

10-24-2006, 11:36 PM

Keith is a great name for a pirate! I say go for it. As for the model, looks like a good start, although people have suggested correctly that it might not deform too well as it stands. I`m a little confused, have you made the hi-res model to get the normal map info from? I am very tired, so I might have got lost somewhere. Personally I would get the hi-res one done, because its highly probably you will have to change some proportions when your modeling that.... then you can pretty much use the un-subdivided hi-res for your low.. ( well, I do, maybe I am lazy :thumbsup: )

Keep it up, there can never been enough pirates !

westmeadow

12-19-2006, 02:05 PM

hey, work continues on the pirate at a slow but steady pace, here's the progress so far.

I've already had a few ideas for environments to put him in and even a sidekick pirate aswell. i'll keep you posted on those.

Any thoughts? how about trev, the wannabe pirate? cheers

Arron

Dupikus

12-19-2006, 03:34 PM

hihih he's great! :D

Gusgus

12-19-2006, 11:31 PM

Looking good I love the concept but i feel the 3d version needs to be a bit closer to it. The biggest things that are different from the concept are the nose and the eyes. The nose bridge is alot more prominent in the 3D version than the original, i think it needs to be a bit flatter. The eyes need dark crazed sleep deprived circles around them. The cornias need to be tiny specs like the original. The teeth need less detail in them, need to look more like white blocks. lol he really needs that belly and arm hair, and i cant really tell but i dont think he had eyebrows in the concept, if he does their really close to the top of the eyes. The torso looks too short and mabe the shoulders need to be closer together. Oh and the sword should be grey too its gold in 3D. Overall the 3D version needs to look more Crazy he looks too friendly right now. I really really love the concept. Its hard as hell to translate Cartoon 2D to 3D especially when you go low poly. The concept is wallpaper worthy to me, the 3d version is almost there.

If you havent already decided it yet im kinda impartial to Bob.

Kleptomaniac

12-20-2006, 08:34 AM

Might just be me, but i liked the semi-cell shaded, vibrant, low baked on shadow type look in concept design; added warmth to the character (like a loveable oaf). He looks more serious/dark in the renders (in terms of colour shades, not lighting). Maybe make his face a little more smoother/rounder like in the design (less prominent cheekbones). The nose is a little bigger than in the concept (where it's more "cute").
Love the Wally (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where%27s_Wally%3F)the pirate look in the design.:D

monkeynutz

12-20-2006, 09:21 AM

I like how he looked crazy in the concept. The eyebrows were either absent or hard to see (close to eyes) in the concept, so I think you should keep it that way in 3D. A lack of eyebrows means one of two things: crazy or pissed the Hell off. Also, compared to the concept, his eyes are much too flat (top and bottom) on the 3D render. I'm assuming he was supposed to look at least slightly insane and the eyes really pull that off in the concept. In the render he looks loveable and friendly rather than the 'back away slowly' type of feel you get from the concept. Also concerning the eyes, usually you want the iris to touch at least one border of the eye. This keeps the character life like and friendly. This is not what you want. In the concept the extremely exaggerated beady eyes grab the viewer, but you went completely the other way with the textures. As for the sword, I actually like the gold handle over the silver one. I do think he needs the belly hair though as was mentioned. Additionally, the belt buckle has changed between the concept and render. It's a bit small in the render so I can't really say which I prefer, but well, just an incongruity...There seems to be some extreme bumpiness to the face (based on the highlights in the render) that should be toned down a bit. Also, the beard is far thicker (comes further off the face) in the render than in the concept. Also, I think some of the charm of the concept is in the character's square mouth which is almost lost in the model. Lastly, the shirt has a lot of unnatural bumpiness to it in the render.
Personally for a character such as this I would suggest going without any bumpiness to the shirt, but if you do, I would go with more of a stitch type pattern to represent the weave in the shirt. Currently the bump looks a lot like noise.

All in all a nice and charming character, good work! Oh and, uggh, I forgot to mention, the stripes in the shirt seem a bit weird and irregular in teh render. I'd say either your UV's are a bit off or your textures don't have straight lines. it's a bit easier to fix with the textures (hold shift in PS to draw a straight line I'm sure you know), but if it's teh UV's, a considerable amount of tweaking may be needed.

dpizzle

12-20-2006, 03:25 PM

i really like his design, very cartoony

do you have the default lighting on in the viewport, or is this an actual render?
if so - try turning off all lights and see how he looks self illuminated, i think he will look a lot better, and more accurate to the concept, if you've shaded him right in the texture.

just something to think about

:thumbsup:

westmeadow

12-21-2006, 11:19 PM

thanks alot for the crits guys, really really helpful. made a few improvements, tell me if you think i'm heading in the right direction.

flattened nose bridge, darker around the eyes, just a dotty pupil, hairy belly and 50% self illuminated. i realise the shoulder envelopes need some work.

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